Hi there,
I must make a change in my diet. I am overweight and have a very slow moving GI tract. I know from past experience that when I eat a whole foods diet consisting mostly veggies, fruits, grains, beans and nuts/seeds that I have lost weight and my GI runs...well, more smoothly. I also feel so much better. I love to run, lift weights and kickbox. I am drawn to this website because I need to understand how athletes get all the nutrition they need from a vegan diet.

I have purchased a book entitled EAT TO LIVE by Joel Fuhrman. In it he discusses a 6 week plan for weight loss that I hope would introduce me to a completely vegan diet and help me lose a quick and dirty 10-15 lbs. Does anyone here know of this book and it's author? Are his practices sound?

I have heard his book is good but sorry I have not read it. But I say that another web site for changing your diet it
www.drmcdougall.comHe has many cookbooks and even has a clinic is California.
Good luck

You can get a ton of info from his web site. He is vegan (except he has a few receipes with honey.) If you are trying to lose weight his program is very strict with nuts, bread, and fats. Here is a link to a sample program from his site
http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html

"Eat to Live" is, in my opinion, one of the best nutrition books currently available. I approximate the Eat-to-Live plan, which is essentially a guarantee for maximizing disease-prevention and weight-loss from the food angle. The other primary angle is of course exercise, which is why this is such a great website/community.

If you haven't already, I would definitely try his 6-week plan.

As far as exercise and getting enough nutrients goes... this is usually a question of eating enough food. Whole plant foods are as nutritious as eating gets; when you exercise more (especially if you want to increase muscle mass), you simply need to eat more whole plant foods at the same time. But if weight loss is your first goal (which is the way to go for reducing risk factors for certain diseases), then you would still want to keep your calorie intake moderate.

In my experience, it's very easy to get all the nutrition I need from a vegan diet. And by focusing on whole plant foods, I get to eat about twice what my friends eat!

Wow, it took some time to get anyone on this site to respond to this thread. I think when a certain book is talked about on this site many feel that one might be going the way of the "wacky". I agree that ETL is a sound and wonderful book. Again thank you for your "nod". dmd

Hey there. I'm a new member as of an hour ago, which is why I didn't reply to your question until now. But a great book you might look at is Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis. It has a whole section on vegan nutrition and athletic performance!

[quote="inertia"]Hey there. I'm a new member as of an hour ago, which is why I didn't reply to your question until now. But a great book you might look at is Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis. It has a whole section on vegan nutrition and athletic performance!